Founder & Executive Director

Stephen Cravens

Mr. Cravens coordinates global YPE operations and leads efforts to empower leadership at the local level. He currently serves as CEO of Sutton Hill, a boutique advisory firm focused exclusively on providing fundraising and investor relations services to private equity firms in North America.

Previously, he led the private equity fund analytics group at Cogent Partners, serving institutional and family office limited partners globally. In this capacity, asset owners leveraged Mr. Cravens for specialized private equity fund due diligence, valuation, and liquidity advisory assignments – including those that involved "sell vs. hold" decisions. Cogent Partners, recently acquired by Greenhill, pioneered the secondary market for private equity and is the leading sell-side advisor worldwide for LP stakes.

Mr. Cravens has also worked as a member of the investment team at First Reserve, the largest and oldest private equity firm focused on the energy industry with over $26 billion raised since inception. He was responsible for all aspects of the investment process, ranging from deal origination and structuring to due diligence, execution and monitoring.

In addition, he has served in an executive role as chief revenue officer for Century Interactive, a private equity-backed marketing analytics company. Mr. Cravens began his career as an analyst in the global energy group at UBS, where he led financial modeling and process-oriented responsibilities in support of potential and actual advisory and capital markets transactions. Mr. Cravens holds a BBA from the University of Texas at Austin and MBA from the Harvard Business School. He lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, McCall, and three children.

Mission Statement

YPE aims to facilitate the advancement of young professionals in the energy industry around the world through social, educational and civic service oriented events. The desired outcome of YPE is to foster an environment where members can learn from each other’s experiences, share industry knowledge and discuss career matters.

Vision Statement

YPE is a positive catalytic force in uniting the young energy leaders of today. YPE prepares its members to be the best leaders for their communities and for the global energy industry. We are dedicated to enriching each member’s lifelong journey of leadership, growth and significance through education and idea exchange

Chapters

YPE seeks involvement from a broad base of professionals working in the energy industry to participate in the networking and educational programs held in its 40 chapters worldwide. YPE also seeks to promote awareness of volunteer opportunities for its members looking to get involved in community service projects.